Brazilian "garimpeiro" or gold prospector, Jose Otacilio de Oliveira, searches for the precious metal in the area known in the 1980's by the name Serra Pelada, where more than 60,000 men dug a massive crater in the Amazon Basin in a modern-day gold rush, in Curionopolis August 18, 2009. As the production of gold dropped towards the end of the decade so did the number of prospectors, and today only some 7,000 residents mine in the area with a high rate of tuberculosis and HIV. Picture taken August 18, 2009. REUTERS/Paulo Santos (BRAZIL ENVIRONMENT POLITICS SOCIETY BUSINESS)

Brazilian "garimpeiro" or gold prospector, Jose Otacilio de Oliveira, searches for the precious metal in the area known in the 1980's by the name Serra Pelada, where more than 60,000 men dug a massive crater in the Amazon Basin in a modern-day gold rush, in Curionopolis August 18, 2009. As the production of gold dropped towards the end of the decade so did the number of prospectors, and today only some 7,000 residents mine in the area with a high rate of tuberculosis and HIV. Picture taken August 18, 2009. REUTERS/Paulo Santos (BRAZIL ENVIRONMENT POLITICS SOCIETY BUSINESS)